Guinea says has contained Ebola outbreak, death toll rises

CONAKRY (Reuters) - Authorities in Guinea said on Wednesday
they stopped an outbreak of deadly Ebola fever from spreading
beyond the country's remote southeast, although the number of
deaths from suspected infections rose to at least 63.

U.N. agencies and medical charities such as Doctors Without
Borders (MSF) have scrambled to help Guinea - one of the world's
poorest countries - cope with the virus, amid fears it might
spill across borders into neighboring West African nations.

Liberia, which shares a border with southeastern Guinea,
reported five deaths this week from suspected infections in
people who had come across the frontier to seek treatment.
Sierra Leone has also uncovered two deaths in the border town of
Boidu suspected to be linked to Ebola, one of the most lethal
infectious diseases known to man.

Laboratory tests have so far only confirmed 13 cases of the
disease, from 45 tests. More samples, some of them from Sierra
Leone and Liberia, have been sent for examination.

"The epidemic is not spreading to other regions," Guinean
Health Minister Remy Lamah told Reuters by telephone from the
affected area in Guinea's remote Forest region. "Medical
equipment has been shipped in. MSF is helping us to control the
outbreak."

An MSF spokesperson said the number of suspected infections
had risen by just two from Tuesday to 88, according to
government figures. Four more people died, however, bringing the
death toll to 63.

MSF flew in 33 tons of medical equipment over the weekend,
enabling the creation of an isolation ward in Gueckedou, the
epicenter of the outbreak. Ten patients with Ebola symptoms were
receiving treatment there, MSF said.

Another isolation facility is being set up in the town of
Macenta to deal with suspected cases there, said the medical
charity, which is reinforcing its emergency team of 30 staff.

BAN ON BUSHMEAT, BATS

Since its discovery in 1976 in what is now Democratic
Republic of Congo, only around 2,200 cases of Ebola have been
recorded. Of those, 1,500 were fatal.

The outbreak of mysterious hemorrhagic fever was first
detected in Guinea in February. Scientists have since identified
it as the most virulent Zaire strain of the Ebola virus.

The virus is believed to reside primarily in bats between
rare outbreaks in humans. Some experts believe it may have been
carried by bats from central Africa, where it is more common.

In an effort to stop the transmission of the disease, Guinea
has banned the sale and consumption of bats and other types of
bush meat, and banned public funerals for those killed.
Volunteers from the Guinean Red Cross were disinfecting the
homes of victims and dealing with infected bodies.

The disease incubates for up to three weeks and its symptoms
are similar to malaria and cholera, making it difficult to
detect in West Africa, where such diseases are endemic.

The virus initially causes raging fever, headaches, muscle
pain, conjunctivitis and weakness, before moving into more
severe phases of causing vomiting, diarrhea and hemorrhages.
There is no vaccine and no known cure.

A team of Guinean and MSF officials were visiting villages
advising people on precautionary measures. Infection can be
reduced by simple measures such as washing hands and wearing
gloves, face masks and protective goggles.

The teams were traveling by foot seeking to identifying
people who have been in direct contact with Ebola victims and to
isolate people showing symptoms of the disease, MSF said.

International SOS - a leading medical and travel security
services company - said business travelers and expatriates
working outside the healthcare sector had a low risk of
contracting the rare disease. Several international mining
companies are active in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia.

It was the first recorded fatal outbreak of Ebola in West
Africa. A non-fatal case was documented in a scientist studying
an Ebola outbreak in chimpanzees in the Tai national park in
Ivory Coast in 1994.